Spoleto Festival USA has announced details of its 2026 season, running from 22 May to 7 June in Charleston, South Carolina. Framed around the theme of freedom of expression, the festival aligns its 49th edition with the 250th anniversary of the United States, presenting more than 110 performances across opera, orchestral and choral music, chamber music, dance, theatre, jazz, and community-focused events.
Renée Fleming as an international focal point
Renée Fleming returns to Spoleto Festival USA in 2026 with The fiddle and the drum, a collaboration with banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck. The programme draws on Appalachian folk traditions and reflects the festival’s broader engagement with American musical heritage and the dialogue between classical and vernacular forms.
Opera at the centre: Menotti and Purcell
Opera continues to occupy a central position in the festival’s artistic profile. The season opens with a new Spoleto production of The old maid and the thief, the comic radio opera by the festival’s founder Gian Carlo Menotti. The work is reimagined as a live radio drama at the historic Dock Street Theatre, with period microphones, live sound effects, and on-stage musicians. The production is directed by Daisy Evans and conducted by Timothy Myers, who leads the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra.
Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas is presented in a hybrid production that combines opera and physical theatre, created in collaboration with the Australian ensemble Circa. The performances take place at the College of Charleston Sottile Theater and are conducted by Patrick Dupré Quigley, with Yaron Lifschitz, Circa’s artistic director, responsible for direction and stage design. The production brings together the Spoleto Festival USA Chorus and Orchestra.
Orchestral and choral highlights
Under the direction of Timothy Myers, the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra presents a season combining core symphonic repertoire and contemporary works. Programmes include Symphony No. 5, Symphony No. 1, and an American-focused concert featuring Appalachian Spring, alongside works by Samuel Barber and Jessie Montgomery.
Choral music is given particular prominence in 2026, marking the inaugural season of Amanda Quist as Music Director of the Festival Chorus. She conducts a performance of Mass in C minor, as well as a programme devoted to American composers at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church.
Theatre, dance, and American narratives
Theatre and dance further expand the festival’s engagement with American history and artistic expression. The season includes George + George, a new work by Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson set during the American Revolution, as well as Patrick Page’s solo performance All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain. In dance, the Martha Graham Dance Company marks its centenary with Graham 100, while Scottish Ballet brings the U.S. premiere of Mary, Queen of Scots.
More info, here.
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